Dale Farm Travellers lose eviction battle in high court - The Guardian

Residents of the Dale Farm Travellers' site in Essex lost their long-running legal battle against Basildon council when the high court ruled that their eviction from the plot could go ahead.

But the Travellers, who have been locked in a dispute over the former scrapyard with Basildon council for more than a decade, immediately said they would appeal. If they are granted permission to appeal, the planned eviction may be delayed.

Residents had asked the judge to stop the eviction under the European convention of human rights, in three judicial reviews; the court dismissed their applications, and said the council's decision of 17 May to evict was lawful.

After 10 years of legal battles the judge said it was "astonishing" that residents had delayed making their legal bid to almost the day of eviction.

Mr Justice Ouseley, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, ruled that the Travellers delayed too long in challenging Basildon's decision to take direct action against them, and said the council's actions were not disproportionate.

"The conclusion has been reached time and again that this is just the wrong site for Travellers," he said.

Lawyers for the Travellers argued that the council had failed to offer suitable alternative accommodation and to consider those vulnerable residents and children whose education would be disrupted by the eviction. But the judge said the planning system had always included a fair consideration of personal circumstances and that the residents must now leave voluntarily. If distress and upset were caused by forcible eviction "it would be because of decisions made by the residents not to comply", he said.

The Dale Farm inhabitants were breaking criminal law each day they stayed on site; their removal was needed to stop "the criminal law and planning system being brought into serious disrepute," he added.

The eviction would cause "considerable distress and disruption" but must go ahead "In my judgment the time has manifestly come for steps to enforce the law to be taken."

Candy Sheridan, vice-chair of the Gypsy Council, said: "We are disappointed. We are not surprised, but the fight goes on. We will be seeking permission to appeal."

The council will not restart the eviction before Monday, giving the Travellers a small window of opportunity to launch their appeal. The court of appeal previously ruled against the Travellers on a human rights application in 2009. Dale Farm residents obtained an emergency injunction on 19 September after a different high court judge decided that there were grounds to believe the council might "go further" in clearing the site than its eviction notices allowed.

Three further judicial reviews were lodged after a high court judge ruled on 3 October that the council could remove caravans from 49 of 54 plots and most of the concrete pitches, but that walls, fences and gates could not be removed, despite the council's repeated assertions that the site had to be cleared.

Speaking outside the court, Tony Ball, leader of Basildon council, who struggled to be heard over residents' chants of "we will not be moved", said the council had acted lawfully at all times.

"Having engaged with the legal system [the Travellers] must now abide by the law. I would like to reflect on what the judge said – that the criminal law applies equally to all, Travellers and others alike. They have reached the end of the road," he said.

The council would pursue its legal costs, he added.

At the Dale Farm site Jake Fulton, a member of Dale Farm Solidarity, a group of activists supporting the residents' opposition to eviction, said the Travellers were prepared to resist.

"People are already flooding back, Travellers and supporters. We're expecting a big swell over the next couple of days," Fulton said. "At the end of the day we will be here for them, and we'll have to rely on the physical defences now that the legal ones have failed us."